Jerry Rice: Give Antonio Brown an Oscar after this...

1of2Retired San Francisco 49er wide receiver Jerry Rice is seen on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018 in San Francisco, Calif. He is featured in a documentary, "In Search of Greatness."Photo: Russell Yip / The Chronicle

Jerry Rice doffed his cap to Antonio Brown on Monday, telling a Bay Area radio station that the now-New England wide receiver put on an acting job worthy of acclaim and along the way fooled everyone — including Rice.

Speaking to 95.7 The Game, the former 49ers and Raiders Hall of Fame receiver said Brown showed he has acting chops as well as football skills during his bizarre, bitter and ultimately short-lived stay with the Raiders.

“He was a Denzel Washington and he won the Oscar,” Rice was quoted by TMZ as having told the radio station. “He won an Oscar, guys. ... He had all of us sold. Then all of a sudden, you started to get all of this drama, what was happening with the Raiders.”

Rice said he, too, was fooled by Brown. According to Rice, Brown had told him last year that he would like to play for the 49ers.

Brown, signed by the Raiders to a three-year deal worth more than $50 million in the spring, was released by the team Saturday after a whirlwind of incidents that involved him being fined for missing practices, allegedly threatening to attack general manager Mike Mayock, emotionally apologizing to teammates for the outburst, posting a video in which he allegedly secretly recorded a conversation with head coach Jon Gruden, asking for his release by the Raiders and then being let go.

Five hours after the Raiders cut ties with Brown, he agreed to a one-year deal with the defending Super Bowl-champion Patriots. According to ESPN, Brown’s one-year deal with New England is worth up to $15 million with a $9 million signing bonus.

The Patriots have won three of the past five Super Bowls and haven’t had a losing record since 2000.

The Raiders, who have had one winning season since 2002, opened their season Monday night against Denver. Last year, Oakland went 4-12.

Mike Lerseth has worked for The San Francisco Chronicle since May 2000. Originally hired as a copy editor, he spent more than a decade working as a supervisor in Production before returning to the newsroom in June 2013 as one of The Chronicle’s two assistant sports editors. In that role, Mike oversees the paper’s NFL, Colleges, NBA, NHL, horse racing and high school sports coverage – with a dash of auto racing thrown in, too.

A seventh-generation Californian and married father of four, Mike began his newspaper career in 1982. Prior to The Chronicle, he held management positions at the Vallejo Times-Herald and Oakland Tribune and was also a news editor at the Contra Costa Times.